On his book Masters of Craft: Old Jobs in the New Urban Economy
Cover Interview of July 18, 2017
Lastly
I ultimately want readers to think about what work looks
like today and why people pursue the jobs that they do. Creative jobs,
knowledge work, and high-end services are the most sought-after occupations in
our economy. But an impressive number of people who we would expect would want a
more conventionally high-status, high-thinking job are instead choosing traditionally
low-status ones that require manual labor. Of course, they only want the
versions of these jobs that allow them to think and be creative, which enhances
their status. And while we usually—and understandably—equate a job’s status and
quality with how much it pays, these workers show that a “good” job need not be
the highest paying, but the one that gives workers other kinds of rewards, such
as positive psychological feelings.
But I also want readers to think about why some people get
to pursue certain jobs while others have difficulty doing so—especially ones
that seem like they should be open to everyone. If having a college degree (or
having the opportunity to get one) isn’t generally a requirement for getting one
of these jobs, then why do so many of the people I studied have one (or have
some higher education experience)?
A college education provides people with
both social capital, or social networks and relationships, and cultural
capital, or sets of behaviors and knowledge, both of which are necessary for people
to get these specialized jobs. Owners of these businesses, who are all
well-educated, tend to hire people who are similar to them in terms of
background and appearance. People get and keep these jobs because they hear
about them through their social networks or they simply know how to look for
them, how to present themselves to owners and managers, and how to interact
with their colleagues and consumers.
People who lack these forms of capital struggle to get, keep,
and excel in these jobs. These are typically people from low-income and
working-class backgrounds and/or people of color. Employers don’t discriminate
against these groups, but their absence from these businesses is a reality. The
problem is that people from these populations would benefit the most from these
jobs. My hope is that readers recognize this small, but interesting, form of
workplace inequality happening in these cool jobs that limit their potential to
transform manual labor and much service work today.
The dominant premise in evolution and economics is that a person is being loyal to natural law if he or she attends to self’s interest and welfare before being concerned with the needs and demands of family or community. The public does not realize that this statement is not an established scientific principle but an ethical preference. Nonetheless, this belief has created a moral confusion among North Americans and Europeans because the evolution of our species was accompanied by the disposition to worry about kin and the collectives to which one belongs.Jerome Kagan, Interview of September 17, 2009
[T]he Holocaust transformed our whole way of thinking about war and heroism. War is no longer a proving ground for heroism in the same way it used to be. Instead, war now is something that we must avoid at all costs—because genocides often take place under the cover of war. We are no longer all potential soldiers (though we are that too), but we are all potential victims of the traumas war creates. This, at least, is one important development in the way Western populations envision war, even if it does not always predominate in the thinking of our political leaders.Carolyn J. Dean, Interview of February 01, 2011
Lastly
I ultimately want readers to think about what work looks like today and why people pursue the jobs that they do. Creative jobs, knowledge work, and high-end services are the most sought-after occupations in our economy. But an impressive number of people who we would expect would want a more conventionally high-status, high-thinking job are instead choosing traditionally low-status ones that require manual labor. Of course, they only want the versions of these jobs that allow them to think and be creative, which enhances their status. And while we usually—and understandably—equate a job’s status and quality with how much it pays, these workers show that a “good” job need not be the highest paying, but the one that gives workers other kinds of rewards, such as positive psychological feelings.
But I also want readers to think about why some people get to pursue certain jobs while others have difficulty doing so—especially ones that seem like they should be open to everyone. If having a college degree (or having the opportunity to get one) isn’t generally a requirement for getting one of these jobs, then why do so many of the people I studied have one (or have some higher education experience)?
A college education provides people with both social capital, or social networks and relationships, and cultural capital, or sets of behaviors and knowledge, both of which are necessary for people to get these specialized jobs. Owners of these businesses, who are all well-educated, tend to hire people who are similar to them in terms of background and appearance. People get and keep these jobs because they hear about them through their social networks or they simply know how to look for them, how to present themselves to owners and managers, and how to interact with their colleagues and consumers.
People who lack these forms of capital struggle to get, keep, and excel in these jobs. These are typically people from low-income and working-class backgrounds and/or people of color. Employers don’t discriminate against these groups, but their absence from these businesses is a reality. The problem is that people from these populations would benefit the most from these jobs. My hope is that readers recognize this small, but interesting, form of workplace inequality happening in these cool jobs that limit their potential to transform manual labor and much service work today.